Episode 2
Episode 2 "I'll Board the tank!" "Sensha, Norimasu!" (戦車、乗ります ! ) is the second episode of Girls und Panzer. It first aired on October 16th, 2012. Plot The episode begins with a zoom-in on the Ooarai school ship to the warehouse where, in Episode 1, the girls found the lone Panzer IV; the Student Council informs everyone that it has been a few years since sensha-dō was discontinued in Ooarai, but the other four tanks should still be around somewhere. Unable to give them more precise info, they encourage everyone to start looking for the missing tanks before next morning, when a sensha-dō instructor will arrive. Saori seems dejected, but when Anzu tells her that the instructor is "really cool", she immediately regains her energy. As Saori, together with Hana and Miho, begins looking around for a tank (in a parking lot first, as they are "both vehicles"), Miho notices a girl following them from a distance, apparently shy for some reason; when she turns around and asks her if she'd like to search for tanks with them, she seems very happy and introduces herself as Yukari Akiyama. Oddly enough, she seems to already know who Miho is. The first-year students are seen in a library, wondering where the tanks could be and why sensha-dō was discontinued. Back with Miho and the other girls, they are in a forest, when suddenly Hana senses a faint smell of iron and oil mingled with that of the flowers (to the others' amazement, apparently thanks to her flower arrangement experience which has enhanced her sense of smell); they quickly find out it belongs to a Panzer 38(t), to Yukari's excitement, so much that she blurts out all the tank's history and characteristics, only to excuse herself when she sees the other's puzzlement with her behavior. As they phone the Student Council about their discovery, the other tanks are being found: The members of the defunct volleyball club find a Type 89B in a cave on a mountainside, the history buffs discover a StuG III sunk into a lake, while the first-years locate an M3 Lee in a warehouse, used by rabbits as their home. As the newfound tanks are lined up in the grounds near the warehouse, the Student Council discuss how best to assign them: Momo assigns the Panzer IV to Miho and her three friends (Anglerfish Team), the Type 89B to the Volleyball club members (Duck Team ), the StuG III to the history buffs (Hippo Team), the M3 Lee to the first-years (Rabbit Team), keeping the Panzer 38(t) for the Student Council (Turtle Team). They are ordered to make their tanks presentable for the next morning; while the others take their time discussing their tanks, Miho immediately sets to work, noticing that they will have to clean their tank and scrape off the rust. Everyone works in their own way (with the history-buffs reminding each other of famous water-related historical events, the first-years behaving as if they were in a water park, and both Anzu and Momo leaving their share to Yuzu); as the sun is setting, the job is done. The Automotive Club is tasked with taking care of the rest of the restoration. Yukari excitedly asks Miho if she's eager to drive their tank, but is taken aback by her unenthusiastic response. As they relax after their hard work, Yukari suggests that they get to a tank-related shop; when they get there, they relax a bit (with Yukari showing even more of her tank-related knowledge and Saori revealing what little does she knows, together with her desire to become popular). However, on a TV an interview is screened with Maho Nishizumi (overall commander of Kuromorimine Girls Academy) with Erika (vice commander) in the background. Maho is a girl who looks a lot like Miho (but their relationship is to be revealed only later) and is apparently a famous and successful sensha-dō participant; when asked the secret behind her victories, she answers that it is to never give up and never run away (part of the Nishizumi style), a statement that seems to have quite an effect on Miho. Quickly realizing this, Saori quickly proposes for them to go over to Miho's house. As they get home and decide to prepare some dinner, things begin to go south, as Yukari takes out from her conspicuous backpack a whole mess kit (and, to Saori's amazement, she states that she brings it with her anywhere, at any time), while Hana cuts herself trying to peel the potatoes (as she never handled anything but flowers); an exasperated Saori decides to take things into her hands. She brings everything in order, and soon a tasty dinner is ready; she explains it's all part of her attempt to have guys fall in love with her, although the others are skeptical about her basing herself on urban legends. Miho seems especially happy that someone is hanging out with her, even as the others go home for the night. The next morning, Miho gets going in a hurry, apparently late; however, as she runs toward school, she meets a girl who, apparently out of tiredness, is struggling to keep walking, muttering how mornings are painful and how she wishes that this was a dream. Miho helps her to reach the school and at the entrance a girl controlling the arrivals remarks how the girl is chronically late, and that if she keeps this up her good grades won't save her from having to repeat the year; she also advises Miho to leave her to herself if she meets her again, and the girl says that she's sorry for making her late too, declaring that she will make up for it. Miho joins the others waiting for the instructor; which soon arrives, as a transport plane drops a modern tank (a Type 10 MBT), which accidentally crushes the Principal's Ferrari F40 (to Yuzu's horror); the tank then drives up to them, and from it emerges a woman. She is revealed to be (much to Saori's irritation about the "deception") Captain Ami Chōno of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, their instructor; as she is introduced, she notices Miho and greets her, remarking how much her mother helped her and inquiring about Miho's sister, when the others shows their puzzlement, she matter-of-factly informs them about Nishizumi's family sensha-dō school's importance. After this, she starts "teaching" them by declaring that they will have right away a mock battle as practice, to everyone's shock as they are complete rookies with no prior combat experience. As everyone prepares (with the volleyball club members declaring their wish to revive their club, the history buffs discussing tactics, and the first-years seeking for info on how to drive a tank on the web), Ami encourages everyone to select each member to a role (commander, gunner, driver, and then on four - and five-crew members the loader and the radio operator); Miho points out that their loader will have to double as the radio operator, but when Yukari suggests that she should be the commander, she vehemently refuses, Saori then has them draw lots. As it turns out, Hana serves as driver, Saori as commander, Yukari as gunner and Miho as the loader. As they get the hang on how to get the tank to move, Yukari gets excited again and excuses herself a moment later. With a few rookie mistakes, everyone gets moving towards their starting position in a hilly, forested place; they begin learning how to work as a crew, for example on the way for the commander to communicate with the driver over the noise (and accordingly, Saori kicks Hana on the shoulder, although a little too roughly). As every tank gets to its starting position, Ami declares the practice match (a free-for-all, with the last tank standing winning) has begun, after the customary thanks. As Miho and the others try to decide what to do, in the end deciding to relent to Saori's wish to get the Student Council to have her revenge, Team B start attacking them, with Team C also approaching, having formed an alliance. Saori immediately panics and screams for Hana to get them out of there, among their opponents' near-misses. The Panzer IV is seen running, with shells raining around it; when suddenly Miho, standing outside her hatch, spots a girl with a book on her face, apparently asleep, laying directly on her path. She screams to get her attention, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Characters Introduced *Yukari Akiyama *Maho Nishizumi (seen on a TV screen) *Erika Itsumi (seen on a TV screen, not named) *Mako Reizei (only her surname revealed) *Midoriko Sono (seen on screen, not named) *Ami Chōno Tanks Appearing *Panzer IV *Sturmpanzerwagen A7V *Tiger I *Panzer 38(t) *Type 89B *StuG III *M3 Lee *Type 10 (Ami's personal vehicle) Main Events *The tanks formerly used by the old Ooarai Sensha-dō Team before its deactivation are found in random (and in some cases strange) places and their restoration begins. *Yukari Akiyama became the fourth crew of Miho's team. *The new instructor arrives, and begins by having a mock battle. Trivia *Immediately after the opening credits, you can see the whole school ship. *There are two tanks that had appeared on the TV screen inside the "Tank Club": The A7V from the motivational movie of Episode 1 and Maho's Tiger I. *It is the first main episode to have opening credits. DreamRiser, the previous episode's ending credits song is now the opening credits song. *Hana Isuzu says that she doubts they'll find tanks in parking lots; whereas in Episode 10 the Type 3 Chi-Nu will be found in a parking lot. *Yukari is in Class 2-B. *Mako Reizei is not yet named in this episode, despite having a prominent appearance when Miho aids her to school; also, her putative nemesis, Midoriko Sono (Sodoko), makes her first appearance too, although she is not yet officially named, but was called Sodoko by Mako. *The aircraft that delivers the Type 10 is a Kawasaki C-2 military transport plane. *Although the presence of a Principal's car implies the existence of a school principal, no such person ever makes an appearance in the anime, or any other supplementary works. In Episode 9, it is seen that the student council takes care of official school administration. *Ami Chōno makes few appearances in the Ooarai training sessions in person, and is not heard giving much active instruction. She most frequently watches from an observation tower next to the warehouses. From the improvement in Ooarai's skills throughout the series, however, it is evident that she performs her role admirably off-screen. *This episode also features for the first time the tank riding sequence related to the ending song, "Enter Enter MISSION"; oddly enough, the sequence shows the Panzer IV with its definitive crew (Miho, Yukari, Hana, Saori and Mako), despite the fact that it will only be formed in the next episode. *There remains some speculation about the location of some of the tanks that were found. This was especially the case with the Type 89B being found in a cave on the side of a cliff, accessible only by rope climbing. *Supplementary material indicates that the Automobile Club worked ridiculous overtime and spent prodigious funds to restore the tanks to working condition, and consequently were distraught when all five of the tanks were blown up again in the battle against St. Gloriana Girls College. *When Oryou, Caesar and Saemonza were joking about the StuG III, Erwin tells them "The StuG III is an amazing tank that fought back the Russian onslaught during Winter War! Apologize to the Finnish!". Erwin committed an historical mistake: While the StuG III did see service with the Finnish army (under the name "Sturmi"), it actually served during the Continuation War and not during the Winter War. *Although Anzu Kadotani suggests each team use tank they found, Momo Kawashima decides to swap their tank (technically, Panzer IV was found by The Student Council), with the Panzer 38(t) found by Anglerfish Team. This could be because the difference in crew members (The Student Council won't be needing tank with 5 crews as Panzer IV), or because they need to give Miho Nishizumi the best tank to work their "plan". *While cleaning the tanks each members of Hippo Team have their anecdote on water: **Saemonza mentions the "Flooding of the Takamatsu Castle". In 1582 Toyotomi Hideyoshi besieged the Takamastu Castle by diverting a nearby river to flood the castle. **Caesar mentions "Crossing the Rubicon". In 49 BC, Caesar cross the Rubicon River, which was the separation between the Cisalpine Gaul and Roman Italy, and started a Civil War. **Oryou mentions the "Commodore Perry's Black Ships". This is a reference to Matthew Perry's 1852-1854 expedition and his "Gunboat Diplomacy" when Perry, during the Convention of Kanagawa, sailed to Japan with 8 Black Steam Ships and made a statement through demonstration of their firepower. **Erwin mentions the "DD tanks from the Normandy landings". Duplex Drive tanks were floating tanks that were used during the Normandy landing. The tank records were a mixture of success and failure due to its catastrophic performances on Omaha Beach. *While Rabbit Team searchs intels about tanks in the library, Saki is seen reading the first tome of the novel Moeyo! Sensha Gakkou (萌えよ!戦車学校) created by Takeshi Nogami. Gallery Ooarai Carrier Underway.JPG|Ooarai's school carrier Xscreen-00202.jpg|Miho explaining to Saori what "Panzer vor" means Screenshot 2017-02-22-18-19-14.png|StuG III found Type89WeirdPlace.png|Type 89B found IMG 20170222 182004.JPG|M3 Lee found AnglerfishTeam.png|Team A DuckTeam01.jpg|Team B HippoTeam01.jpg|Team C RabbitTeam01.jpg|Team D Mplayerc 2012-11-28 16-10-31-50.jpg|Team E Cleaning tank.jpg|Saori cleaning the tank MsFanService.png|Yuzu cleaning the 38(t) Tumblr mtqtkwc8jz1sj78m8o1 1280.jpg|Mako Reizei Type 10 2.jpg|Type 10's grand entrance AmiChouno01.jpg|The new instructor Type 89.jpg|They're shooting at us! Category:Episodes